


Preferential Treatment

by spaceyquill



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-09-01 00:10:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8599294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceyquill/pseuds/spaceyquill
Summary: Anakin checks in on Rex to make sure he's recovering well.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [serenityabrin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenityabrin/gifts).



Smoke choked the landscape, but Rex’s HUD still managed to focus on the moving enemy. Battledroids easily pressed forward when they had no disadvantage to inclement conditions. The little cover Rex hunkered behind was more than some troopers had, lying prone on the ground in hopes of not getting hit. The captain hadn’t seen the inspiring blue of his general’s lightsaber in longer than he could recall. He’d also been stuck in this position for longer than he’d like to admit, unable to gain ground.

The last thing Rex remembered among the flashes of plasma bolts and the groundquakes from walkers and artillery alike was the shrill, belated warning: _incoming!_

* * *

 Three weeks later, Rex still winced whenever he picked himself out of chairs or rolled himself out of bed. He couldn’t really complain when not many brothers walked away from that attack, and he was still under strict orders from Kix to take it easy.

Even a non-stressful day on his feet wore on him, and Rex turned into his personal cabin aboard the flagship early. The 501st was halfway through their hyperspace trip to Felucia in the Outer Rim, with only a standard day and a half to go before their arrival at their next campaign.

His cot beckoned, but just the mental rundown of all the armor latches he'd have to pull to shed his plastoid shell exhausted him, and he fell heavily into his desk chair, kit still on. The familiar hum of engines at lightspeed lulled him out of the present and into the memories of the explosion that nearly killed him.

Rex’s office door sliding open startled him awake. Anakin Skywalker entered, a plasticrate in his arms.

“Good, I caught you before you turned in,” the general said, though his dismissive tone sounded like he would’ve woken Rex up either way. “I’ve got a few things here for you. Some extra bandages from the medbay, a holonovel from Fives, tooka stuffed animal from Ahsoka, some extra ration satchels from the mess…” He dropped each of the items on Rex’s desk as he grabbed it, and Rex had to wonder if the various benefactors in fact knew their possessions were gone.

“Sir, I’m fine, you don’t have to take the trouble,” Rex said, wearing the closest thing to a smile he’d felt in the last week. Three weeks ago, Anakin didn’t leave Rex’s side on the battlefield after the explosion. Rex came to to Anakin bandaging him and not letting him move until the medevac arrived.

“Just want to help you recup.” Anakin began clearing the desk of his gifts, loading them back into the crate. His eager disposition flickered and almost dropped. “You know, you really worried me. Kix thought you were actually dead for a second and I had to fathom a galaxy without you fighting with me.”

Rex’s chest tightened as if the shockwave from the enemy shell had hit him all over again. His abdomen ached at the memory.

“And I’ll do my best to ensure that either Ahsoka or myself are accompanying you on all future—”

Rex dissolved in a groan. “Sir, I don’t need a karkin’ babysitter. It was just by freak chance I got hit. Other companies were suffered worse. If you’re not giving any of the four hundred other casualties Jedi bodyguards, then I don’t need preferential treatment, either.”

“Then be more careful, Rex,” Anakin said, an edge creeping into his voice. “We’re finishing this war together.”

“I’ll tuck and roll faster next time, sir.”

Rex blinked sluggishly in the silence that followed. The day was catching up to him, and the thought of his cot made the idea of dealing with all his armor clasps worth it.

“Need help changing your bandages?” Anakin spoke up.

His insistence really did make Rex crack a smile this time. “Sir, believe me, you’ve done enough.” But being fussed over, being worried about, being cared for sparked a good heat in his chest, and Rex suffered a pained abdomen to push himself to his feet and offer a hand.

Anakin clasped his forearm and Rex closed his glove around his general’s scrawny arm. It was a pleasant surprise to have a Jedi appreciative of clone customs and behavior, and even better when the Jedi participated in them. Anakin taking Rex’s head in his hand and pulling him into a nose touch was the last thing Rex expected, but he didn’t protest. He also couldn’t recall clones outwardly displaying their affection in front of Jedi, before, so it was a wonder where his general picked this up.

They rolled easily into a forehead touch, pleasant and warm. Rex didn’t know how long they stood like that, but it was everything he needed after a long day, for moments of comfort to remind him how much his general cared.

Rex also didn’t know who moved first, whether it was Anakin’s hand still there or his own volition, but their heads slipped again and this time it was their mouths that touched, hot and wet and nowhere near as tender as anything before it. Anakin’s hold on him was as strong as the grip Rex snagged in his general's tunic.

Beyond his immense enjoyment, Rex had to wonder—where in the galaxy did a Jedi learn to kiss? First he had Rex’s bottom lip tight between his teeth, then it was his tongue running over it in amends before fitting thickly into Rex’s mouth and all Rex could do was hope Anakin could stand for the both of them because his brain was definitely too foggy to function. He could blame that on the injury, right? 

Anakin pulled away barely an inch and Rex swayed. His face burned, but to his selfish delight, his general’s face glowed a shade Rex had only seen under battlefield exertion.

“Still don’t need me to stay, Captain?” Anakin asked. Belatedly, Rex realized they still grasped each other’s arms, and he also knew he wouldn’t be the first to let go.

"Well, sir, I was under the impression we were just gettin' started." 

 


End file.
